Now this happened in 1999 during our trip across Austrailia. Some details I will have trouble remembering but the emotions are strong and real. When we arrived at Napean Bay, we parked high above the beach. As we tried to gain access we were challenged and asked why we were there. "To help" was our response. We were directed to the next section down the hill. I sent Celia back to the vehicle to stow the camera because it wouldn't be of any use for the rescue. This is where we got separated. I went with a group to the beach and before we got there we were taught what to do and what not to do when it came to dealing with the creatures. Talk quietly, approach from the side(so they can see you), don't get any water in their blow hole. Move slowly ....etc There was at least one helicopter on the hill maybe two. There were some military style transport near the helicopter. On the beach was a couple of Zodiacs with outboard motors Tents and Awnings a group of people way off in the water, doing something. A backhoe was doing something on the beach. There was a long trench from the water that lead up to the group of Dolphins but it was about 100 yds short of the tents. Dolphins in all shapes and sizes were helter skelter around a very dark dolphin. All of the dolphins had burlap blankets covering everything but their heads and tails, they also had little flags on a wire stuck in the ground beside them. The dark dolphin had no covering. That dolphin was the pregnant female that had lead the rest of the pod to beach themselves. It was dead. People were gathered around a couple of guys standing in mud up to their waist and they were passing 20 ltr pails of mud up to the people to carry to the dolphins. As I approached this mayhem I could hear various conversations. Some were offering refreshments from the tents, some were warning about not letting the backhoe get near a particularly large dolphin that was shaking violently when it approached...and some were very grave and talking about dissections, autopsy's, labs and that the flags indicated which ones weren't going to be released because they were too weak and wouldn't survive..... Some very small children were talking to the dolphins, one child or maybe two children using little plastic toy buckets and toy shovels placing the dirty mud onto dolphins to keep them hydrated. Everything was covered in mud, blood, and dirt. Clothing, buckets, shoes, dolphins, people They bleed just like us.. The blood was dark streams of elongated, congealing...tentacles...I kept hearing the voices of death and dis-pare and thinking what can I do to help...What can I do?? My hearing started to ring louder and louder...the hissing reached a point where I couldn't hear the voices any more and it was hissing louder and LOUDER...I knew I was going into shock and as I spun around looking for what to do, how to help.... the beach and everything around me started to spin and I desperately needed to find a direction something to focus on and give me hope. Suddenly I saw a young man, he was wearing a black divers skin suit and carrying two full pails of fresh water. He looked parched like he was in desperate need and would drop at any minute and it was at that point I found someone to help. Something to do. I grabbed two mt pails and went to the trench, got fresh water and quickly rushed back. I was cautious in the beginning having remembered the instructions but as time went on I slowly did it faster and faster. I would quickly approach from the side, announce "I'm Back" set down a fresh bucket for the children and helpers to keep pouring fresh cups of water on the dolphin and the other bucket I would drench the dolphin cleansing and refreshing every time I hit them with the bucket of fresh cold clean water. They loved it. No one said to stop or slow down. I was careful of the blowhole...they were happy and would flap their tails in the sand every time I did it. Like they were trying to swim...Very quickly the blood was gone, the mud was gone....the voices of doom and gloom disappeared..I looked around for the guy I had started helping he too had disappeared.. We were quickly running out of dolphins to attend too. The backhoe had been transporting them one at a time and the last guy. The big guy who wasn't going to survive had been upgraded...Everyone had been upgraded. They needed volunteers to carry the heavy guy and ...wanting to be where the action is ... I grabbed an edge. We were carrying it on a large burlap sheet with a rope, sewn into the edge surrounding it and this is what we used to carry this 1200lb creature. 20 or 30 steps and then set it down stretch regrab... ok lets go again. When we reached the water they said someone needed to stay with the dolphin and keep it upright..."I'll Do it" was my response. As I am standing there in 3 ft of water a little 3 ft long dolphin swims by and a little girl is following closely prancing and singing and waving her hands in the water, skimming along the surface. That's her dolphin and she is lookin after it...lol Well my guy decides he wants to swim and I am holding onto him because I know it is too shallow. Someone says, "If he wants to swim let em swim"...so I let him go and immediately it rolls on its side and swims in a big counter-clockwise circle. I am high stepping through the water trying to catch up and luckily he comes to a stop nose first driven into a large group of very quiet dolphins. Soon as I get a hold of him I spin him upright and a large flute of water comes out the blow hole...Someone says "Can you kindly control your animal" and we all laugh... Everyone is talking and laughing and it is one of the greatest moments you can ever imagine. We have just saved them, only one was lost. So we are all standing around having a great time and it is decided that we aren't going to wait for high tide a 5pm, it is 2ish and where we are the water is deep enough. So we let them go and the large pod of compacted dolphins is moving toward the bay to the east and not towards open water. We keep pushing them and they are still moving in the wrong direction. Now I am starting to get up to my neck in water. the beach is very gradual and I am getting concerned about drowning and causing a distraction. I can't swim... Now at this point I shout .."Why don't you use the Zodiacs to herd them?" you could see the light bulbs going off in all the educated peoples brains... I guess they hadn't seen Flipper before. Well at this point they load some kids, boys, girls, young adults into the Zodiacs and away they went. It was beautiful. And when we walked ashore we all walked together in a long line abreast to one another....It was like the end of a movie. I think we were singing too. Best day of my life.
